Trafalgar Day

[Dod101]

This is Trafalgar Day in case anyone has forgotten. I expect Boris will be raising a glass.

Dod

[bluedonkey]

Thank you, I'd forgotten. I usually remember 21 October and 18 June (Waterloo).

[UncleEbenezer]

Is there a third one in mid/late February for balance? Agincourt doesn't fit that bill. In fact it seems English victories over the french are very heavily concentrated in the summer/autumn season.

[gvonge]

Is there a third one in mid/late February for balance? Agincourt doesn't fit that bill. In fact it seems English victories over the french are very heavily concentrated in the summer/autumn season.

Battle of Fishguard? 22-24 February 1797 (That would be a British victory, rather than an English one though, as would Trafalgar. Waterloo wasn't really an English victory either).

[bluedonkey]

Is there a third one in mid/late February for balance? Agincourt doesn't fit that bill. In fact it seems English victories over the french are very heavily concentrated in the summer/autumn season.

Battle of Fishguard? 22-24 February 1797 (That would be a British victory, rather than an English one though, as would Trafalgar. Waterloo wasn't really an English victory either).

I think the category is "French battle defeats in which at least one Brit was involved".

[UncleEbenezer]

Is there a third one in mid/late February for balance? Agincourt doesn't fit that bill. In fact it seems English victories over the french are very heavily concentrated in the summer/autumn season.

Battle of Fishguard? 22-24 February 1797 (That would be a British victory, rather than an English one though, as would Trafalgar. Waterloo wasn't really an English victory either).

To be pedantic, the Napoleonic wars were more international than that. Well, at least once Waterloo has been introduced to the thread!

[Clitheroekid]

This is Trafalgar Day in case anyone has forgotten.

I'm sure there will be a group of French descendants from les soldats qui got un droit bon stuffing at Trafalgar who will be demanding that Nelson's Column be toppled!

[Lootman]

This is Trafalgar Day in case anyone has forgotten.

I'm sure there will be a group of French descendants from les soldats qui got un droit bon stuffing at Trafalgar who will be demanding that Nelson's Column be toppled!

One of the many things we have to thank The Simpsons for is the deliciously accurate phrase for the French: "Cheese-eating surrender monkeys". I will leave someone cleverer to translate that into French.

[SteMiS]

Is there a third one in mid/late February for balance? Agincourt doesn't fit that bill. In fact it seems English victories over the french are very heavily concentrated in the summer/autumn season.

Battle of Fishguard? 22-24 February 1797 (That would be a British victory, rather than an English one though, as would Trafalgar. Waterloo wasn't really an English victory either).

I think the category is "French battle defeats in which at least one Brit was involved".

To be fair, nearly half the fleet facing Nelson was Spanish...

[stewamax]

One of the many things we have to thank The Simpsons for is the deliciously accurate phrase for the French: "Cheese-eating surrender monkeys". I will leave someone cleverer to translate that into French.

Just look at the etymology:

cheese: OE / West Germanic
eating: OE / Germanic
monkeys: Low German
leaving 'surrender' from Old French. Quelle surprise.

[MDW1954]

This is Trafalgar Day in case anyone has forgotten. I expect Boris will be raising a glass.

Dod

Hmmm. So I've got four university degrees, and got to age 67, and all mention of Trafalgar Day had passed me by.

Worried by this appalling lapse? You bet.

But googling "Trafalgar Day" suggested that it's largely a Royal Navy tradition, so I didn't feel so bad. It's Pub Night tomorrow, so I'll ask an old friend who is a retired naval commander.

So in response to Dod's post, far from having forgotten, I never actually knew. And as for Boris, that's surely the problem: history as a zero-sum game.

MDW1954